Western Civilization

eventually became the authoritative record of Jesus’s

life and teachings and formed the core of the New Tes-

tament. Recently, some scholars have argued that other

gospels, such as that of Thomas, were rejected because

they deviated from the beliefs about Jesus held by the

emerging church leaders.

Although Jerusalem was the first center of Christian-

ity, its destruction by the Romans in 70C.E.leftindivid-

ual Christian churches with considerable independence.

By 100, Christian churches had been established in most

of the major cities of the East and in some places in the

Western part of the empire. Many early Christians came

from the ranks of Hellenized Jews and the Greek-speak-

ing populations of the East. But in the second and third

centuries, an increasing number of followers came from

Latin-speaking cultures. A Latin translation of the Greek

New Testament that appeared soon after 200 aided this

process.

Although some of the fundamental values of Christi-

anity differed markedly from those of the Greco-Roman

world, the Romans initially did not pay much attention

to the Christians and regarded them at first as simply

another sect of Judaism. The structure of the Roman

Empire itself aided the growth of Christianity. Christian

missionaries, including some of Jesus’s original twelve

disciples, known as apostles, used Roman roads to travel

throughout the empire spreading their “good news.”

As the popular appeal of Christianity grew, the

Roman attitude toward it began to change. The Romans

were tolerant of other religions except when they threat-

ened public order or public morals. Many Romans came

to view Christians as harmful to the order of the Roman

state. Because Christians held their meetings in secret

and seemed to be connected to Christian groups in dis-

tant areas, the government could view them as poten-

tially dangerous to the state.

Some Romans felt that Christians were overly exclu-

sive and hence harmful to the community and public

order. The Christians did not recognize other gods and

therefore abstained from public festivals honoring these

divinities. Finally, Christians refused to participate in

the worship of the state gods and the imperial cult.

Since the Romans regarded these as important to the

state, the Christians’ refusal undermined the security of

the state and hence constituted an act of treason, pun-

ishable by death. But to the Christians, who believed

there was only one real God, the worship of state gods

and the emperors was idolatry and would endanger their

own salvation.

Nevertheless, Roman persecution of Christians in

the first and second centuries was never systematic but

only sporadic and local. It began during the reign of

Nero. After the fire that destroyed much of Rome, the

emperor used the Christians as scapegoats, accusing

them of arson and hatred of the human race and sub-

jecting them to cruel deaths in Rome. In the second

century, Christians were largely ignored as harmless

(see the box on p. 140). By the end of the reigns of the

five good emperors, Christians still represented a small

minority, but one of considerable strength.

The Growth of Christianity

The sporadic persecution of Christians by the Romans

in the first and second centuries did nothing to stop

the growth of Christianity. In fact, it served to

strengthen Christianity as an institution in those cen-

turies by causing it to shed the loose structure of the

first century and move toward a more centralized orga-

nization of its various church communities. Crucial to

this change was the emerging role of the bishops, who

began to assume more control over church commun-

ities. The Christian church was creating a well-defined

hierarchical structure in which the bishops and clergy

were salaried officers separate from the laity or regular

church members.

THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIANITY Christianity grew slowly in

the first century, took root in the second, and had

spread widely by the third. Why was Christianity able to

attract so many followers? First of all, the Christian

message had much to offer the Roman world. The prom-

ise of salvation, made possible by Jesus’s death and

resurrection, had immense appeal in a world full of suf-

fering and injustice. Christianity seemed to imbue life

with a meaning and purpose beyond the simple material

things of everyday reality. Second, Christianity was not

entirely unfamiliar. It could be viewed as simply another

Eastern mystery religion, offering immortality as the

result of the sacrificial death of a savior-God. At the

same time, it offered advantages that the other mystery

religions lacked. Jesus had been a human figure, not a

mythological one, such as Mithra. Moreover, Christian-

ity had universal appeal. Unlike Mithraism, it was not

restricted to men. Furthermore, it did not require a

painful or expensive initiation rite as other mystery reli-

gions did. Initiation was accomplished simply by bap-

tism—a purification by water—by which one entered

into direct communion with Jesus. In addition, Christi-

anity gave new meaning to life and offered what the

Roman state religions could not—a personal relation-

ship with God and a link to higher worlds.

142 Chapter 6The Roman Empire

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